Accelerating algae product developments in Baltic and North Sea

The AlgaeProBANOS project addresses a challenge in the Baltic and North Sea (BANOS) area: how to harmonise economic development with social and environmental goals in line with the Mission Ocean... There is a rising demand for green healthy natural consumer and biobased products, and algae can become the biomass resource of the future, without using fresh water, arable land, or added fertilisers and or pesticides. Both the Baltic and North sea engulf the necessary conditions to scale up production and produce both commodity and sophisticated algae-based products. AlgaeProBanos (APB) brings together 26 experts and industry partners from the BANOS area and beyond, to accelerate product development and market access of sustainable algae solutions. Concretely, APB will support six business pilots, SMEs and startups, to bring eight algae products to the market (TRL7-9) namely in food, feed, nutraceuticals, textiles, cosmetics and plant biostimulants applications. Value chains are based on microalgae and seaweeds, sourced in the Baltic or North Sea or from recycled resources. Innovation takes place in iterative loops with assessments to secure maximum robustness, efficiency, and sustainablesustainability. Furthermore value chains are built with end-users' needs put in the centre, through engaging users in co-creation activities, to ensure maximum uptake. Digital tools are developed to support all actors from biomass producers to consumers. In the end, GoToMarket strategies are tailored to the pilots, providing a trajectory to reach the market. In a meta level, the Algae Accelerator develops new and aggregates existing knowledge, and develops a portfolio of solutions, guidelines and a collaboration and training platform, to benefit the entire algae industry and nourish it into a thriving industry by 2050. The legacy of APB will be deposited to the Ocean Mission BANOS and the EU4Algae.